The End of the Quest(s)?

We've finally found a BBQ place in London that gets it. It's called Red Dog Saloon, and we went on Monday. They also have wings in a few different flavors. More on all that after the break.

I'm a fan of spicy food. I don't know why or how that happened, growing up in the Great White North as I did, but in the last decade or so, I've become a consummate hothead. Anyone who's tried my chilli knows this to be true. I find that usually, to get the proper level of heat on my wings, I have to go after the spiciest sauce on the menu. Pluckers' "Fire in the Hole," Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' sauce, I'd tried them all. Some were "challenge" flavors. Some required waivers. None of them were too spicy to eat. If they don't make you sweat, they're not hot enough. I savor the delicious burn, but there has to be a good flavor. I'm also a fan of interesting flavor combinations in a wing sauce, and I lament the fact that most of the places around here that serve wings don't have a large enough variety. Isn't this supposed to be one of the greatest food towns on earth?

So I've been looking for a good, spicy, flavorful set of wings. Red Dog Saloon has a few different flavors on the menu, including a hot wing challenge made with Naga Viper chiles (they spell it "chillis" over here). I decided to try them, so I ordered the hot wings challenge, minus the fanfare - I don't really have anything to prove, I just like spicy food. They arrived in a little basket, as these things usually do. The runner who brought them out asked if I would like gloves, since I wasn't trying the challenge. I'd been to this particular rodeo before, wearing contact lenses while I sliced habaneros and then realizing I wouldn't be able to take them off for several hours and dozens of hand washings, then doing it anyway. I took the proffered gloves. Becca tried a tiny bit of the sauce, and her face puckered up immediately. I gave them a sniff, and thought to myself, "well, here goes." I'll let you in, for a moment, on my internal monologue:

"Let's just get a little of this sauce on my fork, dip the ol' toes in, as it were. That's not too bad - a little burn on the tongue and roof of my mouth. Flavor's not really exciting me, but this isn't nearly as bad as that ghost chile burgers I've had in the past. Wait a few seconds... nope, no secondary burn. This won't be too bad. Let's just dive into a wing here. Nomnomnom... hm.. that's about the heat I was expecting, but the flavor's not so good. I probably won't eat the rest of these, but I'll do one or two more. There's a little bit more chicken on the bone here, let's go ahead and go back for OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?!!"

That first little taste of sauce was misleading, for lurking within was a fiery demon, mocking my hubris and gazing upon me with scorn. These wings aren't frakking around. They were the spiciest food I've ever encountered, and my stomach is still feeling betrayed two days later. That said, I may try the "regular" wing flavors next time I go back, because the meat was good and they seem to have their sauces under control.

On to the BBQ review...

This place is the second I've been to in London that passes the Rudy's test, and the one that's furthest above the bar. For those unfamiliar, Rudy's is a BBQ chain in central Texas that's considered by many to be bar you must be taller than to ride. They're certainly not the best, but if you can't beat them, you may as well hang up your apron and tongs. The other two places we've tried in town both seemed to have the right idea, but poor execution. The flavors and textures were all just a little bit off, like they had been designed by someone who'd had BBQ described to them without ever actually tasting it. Not so here. It was real BBQ with real flavors.

Becca ordered a drink called the Agwa Mojito, which is a regular mojito muddled with coca leaves. She said it was really good, but they overfilled the glass with ice and skimped a bit on the drink. We split the carnivore platter, which was a sampling of several of their meats - beef ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage, and pulled pork. The chicken was a little dry, but the bbq glaze made up for it. Everything else was moist, tender, and delicious. They had a couple different table sauces - a smoky pepper sauce, a mustard sauce, and a vinegar sauce. We're not fans of vinegar sauce, so we didn't try that one, but the other two were good, especially the mustard sauce with the pulled pork. For sides we tried the burnt-end pie, chilli, baked beans, and meaty beans (which turned out to just be the baked beans with some meat thrown in). They didn't have potato salad, but the beans made up for it. My friend Marty was unimpressed with the beans at Duke's Brew and Cue, saying they needed to thicken up a bit and could use more sweetener, preferably brown sugar. The beans at Red Dog were spot-on, thick and hearty and with just the right touch of sweetness. The burnt-end pie was all right, but the chilli was a bit disappointing. The beef was too finely ground and the flavors were a little too mild for my taste.

We had so much food (and I was still feeling the effects of the wing) that we took almost half of the platter home with us and had leftovers the next day. Everything held up well for a second meal. The meat was almost as good as the first time around; some of it had dried out. The burnt-end pie suffered from being re-heated, but the beans were every bit as good as the night before.

We'll definitely go back to Bodean's for the burnt ends, but Red Dog Saloon is certainly our new BBQ joint in London. The burgers don't look bad, either.